Customer Story
Hosting CRM Cloud System on Windows Desktop VPS

I manage a small business that relies heavily on a self-hosted CRM web application to handle client data and internal workflows. We were seeking a reliable CRM hosting provider that could support our self-hosted CRM open source system in a secure, Windows-based environment. Having full control over our CRM server was essential, and we also wanted the flexibility to explore cloud-based CRM options in the future.

After comparing several providers, we chose Database Mart for their stability and pricing. Their solution turned out to be ideal not only for our current open source CRM self-hosted setup but also as a platform that could support future CRM cloud migrations. For any small business looking for a scalable and affordable cloud CRM for small business, Database Mart offers the perfect balance of control, performance, and support.

*Submitted by user "bill****@gmail.com"*

Application Scenario

The main purpose of our VPS is to host our self-hosted CRM open source web application, which is built using .NET Core 6.0 and MS SQL Server 2019. As a small business, we were looking for a stable and affordable CRM hosting environment with full administrative control. Database Mart’s Basic Windows Desktop VPS turned out to be the ideal solution.

We run a single instance of our CRM on this CRM server, accessing it remotely via RDP. The VPS supports our daily operations, including SQL-based data entry, internal reporting, PDF generation, and running scheduled Python and PowerShell scripts for backup and maintenance tasks. With light concurrency (typically 2–3 users during business hours), the performance has been consistently stable.

This setup gives us the flexibility of self-hosting CRM with the reliability of a cloud CRM for small businesses.

Server Specifications

Product Name: Basic Windows Desktop VPS
CPU: 4 Core
RAM: 8 GB
Storage: 120GB SSD
Bandwidth: 200Mbps

Deployment Process

After the VPS was provisioned, I set up Remote Desktop access and modified the default ports for improved security. I then installed essential components for our self-hosted CRM open source environment, including .NET Core Runtime, IIS, SQL Server Express 2019, and Python. This setup allowed us to run our internal CRM server with full administrative control.

Our cloud CRM for small businesses is a custom open source CRM self-hosted application, and we deployed it by transferring project files over RDP and configuring IIS bindings. Scheduled tasks were enabled through Windows Task Scheduler to automate daily Python and PowerShell scripts, such as database backups and log cleaning.

The entire deployment took around 2–3 hours and went smoothly without major issues.

Performance Review

The VPS server has been running smoothly with no noticeable lag, providing a stable foundation for our self hosted CRM open source environment. Whether we’re handling multiple browser tabs or executing background maintenance scripts, the system remains responsive. Our cloud CRM for small business setup—based on a lightweight CRM server architecture—has not required daily reboots; in fact, uptime has been excellent.

Network Performance

Fast and consistent connection with low latency, even when accessing from overseas.

Reliability Evaluation

We’ve been using this VPS for over 90 days with zero downtime. There have been no crashes, freezes, or forced reboots—even during scheduled tasks and database-heavy operations. This level of stability is exactly what we needed for our self hosted CRM open source solution.

Because of the consistent performance, we’ve fully automated our backup processes and no longer rely on daily manual checks.

Resource Utilization (Under Load)

CPU Usage: 20%–45%
GPU Usage: Not applicable
RAM Usage: 1.8 GB – 3.2 GB

Screenshots Attached:

Optimization Tips

Here are a few small tweaks that made a big difference:

• Limited the IIS app pool memory to 2 GB to prevent overflow
• Disabled unnecessary Windows services and animations
• Scheduled daily restarts for IIS and SQL services (not the OS)
• Used an SSD-based backup destination for faster snapshots

Conclusion & Recommendations

If you’re hosting a Windows-based application like ours, the Basic Windows Desktop VPS is more than sufficient. It’s stable, affordable, and gives you full control. Just take the time to properly configure your firewall and monitor memory usage, especially if you use SQL Server or IIS.

Why DBM?

We chose DBM because:

• It offers great pricing compared to other VPS providers
• The support team is very responsive
• The setup was quick—we got our VPS within minutes
• Admin-level access lets us fully customize the environment

We highly recommend DBM for its outstanding hosting service and technical support.

Notes & Troubleshooting

We encountered a couple of minor issues initially:

• SQL Server installation failed the first time due to .NET Framework version mismatch – resolved by manually installing .NET 4.8
• RDP lag during first login – improved after adjusting RemoteFX and disabling animations